Alfred Hitchcock wasn’t just the “Master of Suspense.” He was also the master of making you terrified of things you previously ignored: showers, motels, and, in this case, your friendly neighbourhood pigeons. The Birds is the quintessential “When Animals Attack” movie, setting the blueprint for everything from Jaws to Cujo. It’s elegant chaos, absurd terror,…
Tag: mystery
Psycho (1960) – Review
Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho is the film that carved up cinema conventions and left the audience bleeding in the shower. It shocked, scandalized, and changed the way people looked at thrillers, not to mention their bathroom curtains. Over sixty years later, it remains both a masterpiece of suspense and a masterclass in breaking all the rules.
The Seventh Victim (1943) – Review
Val Lewton’s The Seventh Victim is one of those films that has all the ingredients for greatness, an eerie premise, shadow-drenched cinematography by Nicholas Musuraca, and a mystery steeped in paranoia, yet somehow manages to feel oddly inert. At just 71 minutes, it should move like a sharp little shocker, but instead it wanders, circling…
Young Sherlock Holmes (1985) – Review
From Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce to Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law, cinema has produced no shortage of takes on the world’s most famous detective and his steadfast companion, Dr. Watson. Some versions stick closely to Conan Doyle’s text, while others sprint off in their own, more enthusiastic directions. Then, in 1985, Barry Levinson…
Baffled! (1971) – Review
This early ’70s offering finds the legendary Leonard Nimoy taking a sharp detour from the logical world of Mr. Spock into the misty realm of ESP, supernatural visions, and swinging ’70s mysticism. I give you the startling, strange movie Baffled!